Sunday, August 23, 2009

Joris moved into a big boy bed last weekend. We hadn't really anticipated this to happen for a little while still, but it turned out that he was more than ready.

Joris had been starting to make attempts to climb out of his crib and although he never did see it through, I had started to troll Craigslist for a twin bed to have on hand for when that day would suddenly arrive. I was pretty particular in what I wanted for his room; something with storage underneath the bed, featuring both a head board and a foot board and no particle board, if at all possible. Turns out wood, twin captain's beds are rather expensive and contemporary or classic styles (read: not the crappy '70s rounded oak varieties) are hard to find.

One day, I had a few pictures up on the computer and Joris came over to look at them. I told him they were pictures of big boy beds and that we were looking for a new, big bed for him for when he would be too big for his crib.

Since that day, at nap time and bed time he'd ask "Where's my big bed?".

I found a listing for a bed that was just what we'd been looking for, for a reasonable price and the people selling it were willing to deliver it.

Joris was so excited and watched Jacob put it together and could hardly wait until I got home with the mattress and sheets. According to Jacob, the only moment of concern was when he asked "My animals, daddy, my animals!" and Jacob quickly reassured him that his animals would move into his big bed with him. In fact, many more animals have joined the pack since the bed is so much bigger.

It's funny to see his little body in that big bed. The transition has been a complete non-issue. He has not been scared and even still stays in his bed (although he knows how to get in and out by himself) after lights out and even waits for us to come get him after he wakes up.

He did fall out three times. We debated getting a little gate to keep him from doing so, but in the end just put a mattress on the floor with the idea that he'll eventually learn / get used to not falling out. Stellar parenting, right? It does seem to have worked though - no falling incidents in the last few days at all!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

The biggest event of our summer was having Jacob's sister, Micol and her family come visit the family on the West Coast. They live in Virginia so we get to see them sporadically at best. The last time we'd seen them was in 2007, when Joris was three months old and we had extended our layover in Washington to be able to hang out in Richmond for a few days.

Obviously, Joris did not remember his cousins Adriana (8) and Sage (5), but did know them from pictures and he seemed excited about having them come over.

Micol and the girls came right in the week of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Seattle, so a lot of our activities were mere attempts to stay cool.

We took them to Matthews Beach the first day they were and town and had a little barbecue in the backyard. On Wednesday we all took the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston. It was the day where the temperatures hit 103 degrees and being able to be on the water, enjoying the breeze - yes, even getting just a tad bit chilly - was wonderful.

We indulged in crepes for lunch at 11:00am before heading back on the ferry.

Really, water was the only way to make it through the heat so there was a lot of kiddie pool action.

Joris, like most people in Seattle in this unusual weather, was having a really hard time getting and staying asleep and we were all stoked to make it down to Portland on Thursday where we'd stay at my folks' air-conditioned house.

We stayed through the weekend and ended up being able to do a lot of fun things. We enjoyed a nice family dinner with my parents, brother and soon to be sister in law on Thursday night. Friday, I had lunch at AngelVision (the company I do the script writing for) and was able to finally meet everyone, which was nice. When I got back to Sellwood, where Jacob and Joris were hanging out with the grandparents and Micol and the girls, I was just in time to join them for an outing to the outdoor pool.

The pool has a shallow end and lots of sprayers, bubblers and, because it was so hot, it was packed with people. Joris was hesitant of the water for about 2 minutes and then he donned a wide grin and proceeded to pretty much lose all language capacity - reverting to pre-verbal "huuuhhhh-huhhhhhh!!!" noises for the entire time we were there. I seriously have not seen him that excited about anything since the discovery that cheese tastes really great.

On Saturday, we went to the Gresham farmers market and had lunch with Dirk and Melanie before joining the Hutchison side of the family for a get together at Jacob's brother Trinh's house. I think everyone was excited to get the five cousins together for the first time and it was so fun to see how they all interacted. The cousins (all girls) are a fair bit older than Joris (10, 8, 6 and 5) but they immediately made sure he was included in the kid club and Joris loved following them around and having a picnic together. Seriously, it is just impossible to describe how cute they all were.

Ever since Adriana read one of his favorite stories to Joris, (which made him look up to her with such awe and giddy excitement) he would ask "where's Adriana?" each time he'd lose track of her. It was sad to have to say goodbye when it was time for us to go, because we all had really enjoyed seeing each other.

On Sunday, Joris enjoyed washing the car before we took off to meet up with my mom's family at a state park in Battleground, WA. There a great river to play and splash in and, as always when there is water and rocks involved, Joris had a great time. We couldn't stay too long because we still had to make our way back to Seattle, which ended up taking forever - without a nap ever happening for Joris.